A taste of the islands

Yes, I know - it's been a while.  I guess in a way that's good in that life here is becoming busy.  It's seeming less like living abroad and more like, well - living. I've slowly started picking up work and the kids are getting big.  Audrey has now officially spent more time in the living in France as she has in the states.  Both of them have demonstrated excellent language skills with them both being fully bilingual although Thomas has a tendency to make more grammatical mistakes (Mama, look at the truck blue!) Cute, nonetheless. He also likes to rummage through my desk in search of scotch. Before you call the French authorities on me, he's just looking for tape (called scotch in french - though this requires a bit of explaining when anglophones are visiting...)

It seems like a lifetime ago but we had the awesome opportunity to spend Christmas and New Years on Reunion Island.  Yes, that is a real place.  It's a small French owned island off the coast of Madagascar.  Jean's two sisters both live there and the younger of the two got married at the end of December offering us the perfect opportunity to escape the dismal Strasbourg winter and trade it in for some year-round island sunshine. It was a loooong trip (an 11.5 hours flight from Paris) but the kids were total troopers.  It was quite perhaps the most fantastic vacation we have ever taken.  The perfect mix of family and tourism, beach and mountains and just the right amount of relaxation. As the trip was ending, I remember looking back and thinking that this was really a once in a lifetime vacation and that these moments will not be relived - Christmas in 80 degree weather, fireworks beachside at midnight on new years eve and both kiddos getting to spend their January birthdays at the pool with their cousins. Although I guess that's what makes these moments so special - knowing that they are not likely to come around again.  As Thomas would say, "Mama, it was a vacation fantastic!"